LS 154

When most of the lanterns had faded from view, Dohee used the Prayer emote. He didn’t normally use it, and this time was no different, he just felt like trying it once. Everyone else had been using emotes, so he joined in. But next to him, Moonhyuk let out an awed gasp.

“Wow…! What’s that?”

“Huh?”

“The praying one… Why don’t I have it?”

His voice turned pouty. That’s when Dohee remembered, Moonhyuk had been power-leveling his Demon Hunter and hadn’t done any main or side quests properly.

“Oh, that one? You get it from a side quest. But you probably haven’t done any side quests yet, so you wouldn’t have it.”

“Oh… I want to learn it too…”

God, he was too cute. It was just an emote, totally useless, but the fact that Moonhyuk wanted it so badly was unexpected. Dohee smiled and made a suggestion.

“Then when you finish the story quests later, let’s go around together picking up the side quests in each region. You can learn other emotes too. I’ll show you everything.”

“Okay!”

The way his face lit up when Dohee said together was so pretty that Dohee instinctively kissed his cheek. His cheek instantly turned red. They kissed multiple times a day, but somehow Moonhyuk still blushed every time. Honestly, that was part of his charm.

“Dohee…”

“Yeah?”

“What did you write for your wish?”

Dohee blinked, his hand hovering over the “Leave Event Map” button.

“Oh, the lantern wish?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not telling.”

He replied with a teasing smile. But the second Moonhyuk’s eyebrows drooped into a sad arch, Dohee changed his mind in a flash. Dammit. There was no way he could resist that face. What kind of pushover couldn’t even commit to a joke properly?

“If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

“Uhh… it’s kinda embarrassing…”

Moonhyuk hesitated, fidgeting. Dohee hadn’t even been that curious, but the delay made him want to know. He leaned in closer, blinking playfully. Moonhyuk pulled back just a little, and even his ears turned red. Dohee wanted to touch them. Badly. But instead, he clenched his fist out of sight. Incredible self-control, Baek Dohee.

“Tell me.”

“I, uh… I wished that Dohee would smile a lot more this year…”

His heart thudded. It was sudden, and intense. His pulse sped up. Who the hell makes wishes like that? Dohee’s lips parted in surprise. Kwon Moonhyuk really had a talent for blindsiding people with sweetness. As silly as the wish was, it still made him feel… good. Being with Moonhyuk always felt good, but this was something more.

“What the hell, that’s so…”

Dohee couldn’t stop his smile from breaking out. Moonhyuk scratched his forehead, flustered.

“Now tell me yours…”

Instead of answering, Dohee leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Moonhyuk’s. Their lips met softly, and a quiet chup echoed as he pulled away.

“I wrote, ‘Please let me be happy with Hyung all year long~’ That’s what I put.”

Total lie. He hadn’t made a wish at all. He’d just scribbled “Kwon Moonhyuk is mine” on the paper like a middle schooler. He didn’t believe in superstitions or wish-granting trees, he’d just written something random. But when Moonhyuk’s eyes curved in a bright, happy smile, Dohee felt it was worth it. A harmless little lie. No one else would ever know anyway.

“Okay…”

Moonhyuk mumbled softly.

“If you’re happy, that’s all that matters. So, shall we go hunt now? You said you were gonna grind hard.”

“Yeah!”

His voice rang out with energy.

And just like that, the two of them turned their backs on the Wishing Sprout Tree and left Radenska.

💎

After several days of intense grinding, Knockoff finally hit level 140. Dohee scraped together all the materials he’d saved and did everything he could to craft Moonhyuk a full level 140 Great Success set. There were a few failed attempts, but at last, a perfect, radiant set was complete.

Character Info

GOingSupporter187

Lv. 140

Class: Supporter

Title: Guardian of Love

Equipment:

– Amplified Earth Robe Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Mask Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Dagger Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Gloves Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Shoes Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Top Lv.140

– Amplified Earth Bottom Lv.140

– Receives the Amplified Earth level 14 set bonus

– Full Great Success effect is active

– Touched by Artisan ‘GoingSupporter’

– Blessed with the Goddess Kelathus’s Blessing via artisan effect

He’d grown up so fast, it felt surreal. Now wearing the full level 140 set Dohee had gifted him, Moonhyuk’s character finally looked the part of a proper supporter.

Dohee stared at the screen, unblinking. He’d have to buy Moonhyuk a new avatar soon. A matching set might look good. There had to be something decent among the discontinued sets. He really wanted to redo Moonhyuk’s character customization too, but Moonhyuk didn’t seem to care, so he hadn’t brought it up yet. Maybe he’d plan a day to convince him. He couldn’t keep letting him run around looking like a mountain bandit.

“Thank you so much…”

“What’s with that all of a sudden?”

“Ack! I mean it–thank you!”

Dohee burst out laughing. Moonhyuk must’ve been so overwhelmed, he accidentally slipped into formal speech. Every time he acted this dumb, Dohee wanted to grab his cheeks and kiss him like five hundred times.

As Moonhyuk changed into his newly crafted level 140 gear by the fountain, a flood of guildmates swarmed around them with congratulations. Dohee had no idea why these people always moved around in packs. They’d all been perfectly capable of fending for themselves before, but now they rolled around together like a bunch of marbles at the drop of a hat. He couldn’t even pinpoint where it all went wrong.

[Guild] SoftRiceCake: Alright, alright!

[Guild] SoftRiceCake: Since IngSupp-chan got his level 140 gear, let’s all go to the Wishing Tree!

[Guild] SoftRiceCake: 7 minutes left till 8:00

[Guild] GoingSupporter: Do we have to go?

[Guild] SoftRiceCake: ?? I even called Daeyoung away from his shop for this

[Guild] SoftRiceCake: You gonna ditch us, GoSupp-nim? I’m hurt… lol

[Guild] PrettyHealerHyung: Let’s take a group screenshot together, pleaseee ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Guild] SiblingSpicyNoodle: ** ** So annoying, seriously……

Unbelievable. They’d already collected all the Wishing Sprout stamps and participated in the lantern event. But once again, Dohee and Moonhyuk were dragged back to the Wishing Tree by the guild.

It had all started with Healer, who suddenly said they wanted to do the lantern event. Yeojin offered to go with hom. So far, so good. But then they pulled in RiceCake, Tando, and 4Evil from their grinding party. Then even Oreckthat, who had just logged in, joined.

SiblingSpicyNoodle had tried to resist, saying it was too much trouble, but caved immediately when RiceCake said, “Go to the Wishing Tree and pray for 150 gear drop mats.” That settled it. RiceCake and Healer also called over Daeyoung, who’d been busy running his shop, and Yeohoo, who was mid-PVP. And of course, they called Dohee and Moonhyuk too.

Dohee had tried to ignore them with a scoff, but Moonhyuk kept glancing around nervously. Maybe the suggestion of taking a group screenshot swayed him. In the end, Baek Dohee, who had no resistance against Kwon Moonhyuk, caved completely again. Every time Moonhyuk looked back with those puppy-dog eyes, Dohee gave in.

At least the event had been running for several days, so the crowd wasn’t as bad as before. The guildmates gathered at the tree, took screenshots, and launched lanterns together. Since they were already doing it, Dohee figured he might as well do it properly, which meant repositioning everyone several times to get better shots.

The end result was kind of hilarious. With all the weird custom avatars and outfits, the guild looked like a complete circus. A family-like guild? Yeah, right.

Moonhyuk asked if Dohee had written a new wish, but Dohee just smiled and feigned ignorance. Moonhyuk pouted and kept his own wish a secret too. In the end, only the lanterns they launched knew what they had wished for.

Please let me spend this whole year happily with Hyung.

Please don’t let Dohee get sick…! ㅠㅡㅠ

Their adorably innocent wishes drifted up into the sky once more.

💎

It was the weekend.

Dohee naturally pulled into the parking lot to meet Moonhyuk as his tutoring job ended. He was used to this routine by now. After a short wait, the car door opened, and Moonhyuk hurried into the passenger seat, still carrying the lingering chill of the cool air.

Despite the warmer weather, Moonhyuk still couldn’t handle the cold. Dohee had preheated the seat in advance. Moonhyuk gave a little shiver as he settled in.

“Did you wait long?”

He was barely two minutes late and still had the nerve to ask. It wasn’t like sitting in the car playing on his phone was some kind of hardship. Dohee shook his head.

“I just got here. Wanna grab dinner before we head home, Hyung?”

The sun was already starting to dip below the horizon. Since they’d been holed up indoors grinding levels lately, Dohee thought going out for dinner wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Oh… sure, I’d like that!”

A bright reply came back. Dohee smoothly pulled the car out. Over time, it felt like Moonhyuk was slowly getting used to dating him. He didn’t feel awkward being picked up or dropped off anymore. Even when Dohee paid for meals or groceries, he no longer got flustered or awkward. That kind of change made Dohee genuinely happy. It meant they’d spent a lot of time together, and it had become familiar.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

Even as he asked, Dohee was already sorting through restaurant ideas in his head. Moonhyuk would probably just say everything was fine.

“Anything’s good!”

Of course. Dohee smiled. As expected, not even a hint of surprise. He glanced at the clock. They still had some time before their usual dinner hour.

“Then how about a short drive before dinner? You hungry?”

“Hmm… not really? Are you tired, Dohee?”

“Tired from what? I’ve been lounging at home all day and just came to pick you up.”

The fact that Moonhyuk was worried about him at all was both adorable and baffling. Dohee had spent the whole day doing nothing.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?”

He looked over and asked. Moonhyuk shook his head.

Now that he thought about it, this was their first real drive together. As he considered where to go, Dohee easily landed on an idea.

“Wanna go to the Han River? It’s not far by car. The weather’s nice, too. If you’re up for it, we could park and take a walk.”

It was just a casual suggestion, Han River was nearby. But Moonhyuk’s reply caught him off guard.

“Oh, uh… I’ve actually never been to the Han River before…”